Hi there, I'm actually from the US, but I regularly visit family here in New Zealand. Back in the States, I own an HTPC running XBMC to manage my large movie/tv collection and works great, but I have a DirecTV (Sky) HD PVR that works just fine and dandy on its own, so I never really got into any sort of HTPC/TV integration mostly because of how complex and virtually impossible it is to get Directv to work with a PC.

I'd love to do the same thing for my Mum here in Greymouth, as she has a very large DVD collection, but also she has a crummy Satmax receiver (hooked to a satellite dish). and was wondering if there was some way I could have an XBMC setup that could also double as TV receiver and actually watch TV. PVR capabilities would be nice but I'm mostly looking for basic TV watching with maybe better functionality than her current receiver. I know XBMC has some of that kind of functionality (and the upcoming Frodo will have built in recording functionality), but I've never been able to really explore it on my setup and I'm even less familiar with the way things work down here.

So, to sum up:

1) Can an XBMC/Windows setup replace a receiver and work for basic TV watching?

2) What hardware would I need? I mean, I get that I need a TV Tuner, but what kind of things do I need to look for with compatibility? Like is there something that I get that directly connects the Satellite dish to the PC? Do I need to record certain frequencies/numbers/stats the current receiver uses?

3) I checked the Freeview site and I understand this area has no HD, and I couldn't anyway as it's a dish and not UHF antenna, plus she doesn't currently have an HDTV anyway.

if you intend to replace the sat box, you will also need a remote control of some sort for the PC to control it. Common options are a MCE Remote Control + receiver pack, a PC case that ships with the IR + remote built in, or one of the great little Logitech di-novo clamshell keyboard/mouse units.

you can get a pre-built htpc box from someone like computer lounge, probably via trade me too. http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/systems/systemdetail.asp?sysid=72&systypeid=5